Thomas Foster’s article is a crafted analysis of Neuromancer, and undoubtedly well written. Although Thomas disassembles the book into many subjects of interest, I would like to address the subject of meat puppets. The article adopts two opposite terms, meat puppet and robopath, which serve as two extremes of existence in the novel. As Thomas puts it, the characters seem to always be unhappy with their existence in either their “organic bodies” or “consensual hallucination”. The negative connotation of being imprisoned in your own body is carried throughout his analysis, and Thomas concludes that Case is obsessed with leaving his own body.
Thomas is surely right about Case’s obsession because the novel introduces three ways to escape the “meat puppet” for Case. The simstim is a “gratuitous multiplication of flesh input” (Gibson 54) and is described as being something that the cyberspace matrix cannot replicate. Case uses the simstim to evaluate Molly’s situations, and the simstim works as an easy transition between the characters of the book. Drugs also give the possibility of leaving the meat puppet for Case. In the book we constantly see Case using drugs when he can, and even at the end of the novel Case replaces his organs to allow himself to feel the affect of drugs on his body. Lastly, Case uses the matrix, which Thomas claims “feminizes him”. By focusing on Molly’s disembodiment, Thomas overlooks the deeper problem of his simplistic logic. Case may be lending his body to drugs, but through simstim and cyberspace he disassociates his body with his consciousness. In other terms, he is prostituting his body to drugs, but when he is using simstim and cyberspace, Case doesn’t allow the interaction of his physical existence to interfere with his conscious feeling of escape.
The feeling of escape is something that humans love. I think that when I watch a movie, part of the reason of watching it is to do with the feeling of escape. I take on the journey of the character and leave my body in chair of the movie theater, while my mind drifts with the plot of the movie. When Case uses simstim, he is also experiencing the movie effect. The combination of drugs, simstim, and the matrix allow Neuromancer to beg the question: are we all obsessed with the idea of escape? Thomas hits the bullseye on this issue, claiming that “Neuromancer depicts a situation in which the characters are neither the masters of their technology nor enslaved by it”.
I personally really liked Thomas Foster’s essay on Neuromancer. I agreed with what he said, especially the last quote you used “characters are neither the master of their technology nor enslaved by it”. I really feel this is true. Case is extremely technologically altered by technology, but he still has control of his actions, like when he tries to break the television Wintermute is on out of frustration. Foster’s quote is the reason I didn’t write about it, because there was nothing I found with which I didn’t wholeheartedly disagree.
This is definitely a detailed explanation of how Thomas characterizes Case’s obsession. I totally agree with your simplistic logic of prostitution because Case definitely is willing to accept whatever the drug does to him and he feels that it is a necessary step to his survival, even if he might have this “massive drug deficiency” (N,3). The only issue I wanted to clarify was the idea that these characters were unhappy by “consensual hallucination,” and maybe this was Thomas saying it. To my own knowledge, the characters who knew about experiencing cyberspace did not necessarily become unhappy with it and, if they did, it was only a transferred emotion from a conflict or problem with another character. Case develops full rage for Wintermute when he “had rescinded the simstim ghost of Linda Lee” whom he loved to be with at that specific moment it time, the one time he found his warm affection for Linda (152). And that altogether affects his response to the cyberspace hallucination. But that is not an acute, actual unhappiness as a result of the conditions of existing in “disembodied consciousness.”
Remember that you don’t have to disagree with someone to write about them. You can simply extend what they’ve already said with some added insights.
I definitely agree with you Sam. Escape is definitely an important concept in the world we live in, with the stress caused by things like school and a person’s job. It definitely seems that this concept of escape could be used as an explanation for Foster’s statement, “Neuromancer depicts a situation in which the characters are neither the masters of their technology nor enslaved by it.” It is just like growing up and not appreciating summer while its happening, but longing and dreaming for it once school comes around. Looking through the book, it seems as if one example of this constant wish to return to the “meat” is illustrated in Case’s longing for Linda Lee, following her death. As Case states, “It’s the meat talking, ignore it,” hinting at the constant temptation of escape the meat provides. (152)
Generally nice work condensing Foster’s points, Sam, and integrating quotations. That being said, I get lost in your third point about the matrix; I’ve read it four times and I’m still not entirely getting your point. See if you can think about how you’d write that section differently. Finally, you need to be sure to use page numbers when you cite Foster and not just the novel, however.